Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:00 — 4.1MB)
When you and I are expecting someone really significant to visit our homes, generally we go into a cleaning frenzy and get the place in tip-top shape, right? I wonder if you have recently thought about the fact that if you’re a born-again believer, the King of kings lives in your house all the time. The wonderful little booklet, “My Heart, Christ’s Home” reminds us of the truth that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.
Well, do you have any closets in your home that need cleaning out, but you’ve declared them off-limits?
What do you have in your closet?
• Wrong relationships
I am amazed at the number of believers who hang on to relationships that are clearly wrong, and that lead them into paths of sin and depression. One of our listeners has for years asked us to pray for a friend to become a believer. We’ve just learned that he has had a relationship with this woman for all these years, and he knows he should not, but he refuses to give it up. Instead he is becoming bitter and depressed, because it’s not working out the way he wants it to.
He’s kept that closet door closed and refused to clean it out. And when you do that, it gets worse and worse and starts to be overwhelming. Are you a slave to some wrong relationships? The Bible is clear about being yoked in some way with unbelievers, and a close relationship certainly falls into that category. Perhaps it’s a business partner that you should not be in business with, because they aren’t believers and don’t work by Christian principles.
Until we clean out these closets, we’ll always have some major problems in our walk with the Lord and in our effectiveness as believers.
• Lying and Deception
Lying has become an art in our culture. We’re so accustomed to our politicians and leaders lying to us, we vote them back in office by big margins anyway. Are you squeaky clean when it comes to telling the truth? Maybe you need to clean some lies out of your closet. Maybe you need to go to someone and tell them the truth and ask for forgiveness for some lie you’ve told them. Until you clean out that closet, your house will never be totally suitable for the King.
